Gender4Growth answers 2 background necessities: growth and gender equity. Gender inequalities are today still present in the economy. This provokes two problems: 1) a structural obstacle against growth, because significant share of the population (mainly women) has restrictions to job market access and entrepreneur opportunities, and 2) a source of unacceptable inequalities for a wants-be democratic continent. This has been addressed in a Lisbon goal: 60% women employment in 2010. Objectives of Gender4Growth is to update partners economic policies with enough consideration to gender issues. Subgoals will be to identify the appropriate economic policies that integrate full contribution of gender, make them available on adequate supports, initiate their transfer to partners, and develop enough targeted communication so as to provide higher level decision-making influence that will ease adoption of adequate measures.Technical activities are typical of a medium-intensity Interreg operation: identification of best practices upon methodological basis, exchange and review between partners, transfer sessions through European workshops and local trainings. Management of Best practices includes a Technical Advisory Committee. Diffusion is set at both technical and decision-makers level, so as to give a wider impact to project and Interreg programme. “Gender4Growth Initiative” is a specific elaboration of diffusion targeted at decision- and policy-makers, thanks to involvement of partners' politicians to ward their colleagues in other European regions outside the partnership: 3 European conferences, exchange about orientations and commitments between regional executives and social partners. Communication is also based on standard actions: press releases at each possible occasion, internet and paper supports, presence to other relevant events, proactive contacts to existing networks and organizations.During the 3 years, partners will deliver “Awards” to local economic initiatives that most resolve gender issues; they will previously offer technical support so as to ease emergence of such initiatives.Coordination includes quality monitoring and risk management. Main outputs will be a review of partners experience including programming documents, a compendium of identified best practices, best practice exchange events, a series of local and European events with a multiplicative effect, extended segmented communication to European targets, creation of diffusion supports about project results. Main expected results are: reviewed partners policies, staff and organizations with increased sensibility and capacity; a higher presence of gender issue in economic political agendas. Achievements: Gender4Growth deals with two economic obligations: growth and gender equality. This issue has been addressed by the Lisbon Strategy with the objective of reaching 60% of female employment in 2010. In this context, Gender4Growth aims to update partners’ economic policies so that gender issues are increasingly taken into consideration at policy level. Project activities are based around the identification of best practices upon methodological basis, exchange and review between partners, transfer sessions through European workshops and local trainings. Project activities started in March 2009 with the Kick off meeting in Barcelona. During this Kick Off meeting partners present themselves, discuss on agenda andfinancial questions, on audit process, and finally partners learn to know them. The decision to make the first workshop in Athens was taken during the Kick Off meeting. This first workshop was held in Athens in May 2009. During this workshop, Veneto Region in charge of component 3 presents the methodology of the Focus Group and the interviews. This methodology was presented, discussed and adopted by partners. The workshop in Athens starts the beginning of the works on the contents. The partners have begun their thematic activities and started to identify projects and innovative practices in their territories. A debate with Athens networks contact was organised. The first dead line for the focus group meeting was fixed for summer 2009. - Partners selected several projects and practices in their territories, described the innovative practices according to the methodology, interviewed personalities on individual meetings and transcribed these interviews and organized several focus groups to bring out the most important points of the projects / practices selected (23 focus groups were organized) - Finally, partners send to Veneto all the best practices (16) studied since the begining of the project. The 19 to 21 October 2009, Veneto Region receives the partners of the project. The agenda of these 3 days was: - The first day: a steering committee was organised o The partners works together on the subject of the conference; gender in Economics: a way out from the crisis. The decision to prepare new studies based on more concrete subject was taken by partners. o All studies, focus groups and interviews were analysed by the partner in charge of the analysis of the submissions. 10 best practices were identified. Such selection was accompanied by an editorial and analytical summary in English of selected projects. o The choice of the next workshop was fixed: Budapest in January 2010. - At the same time the elected representatives of the involved regions showed their commitment in fostering policies and measures that give value to the contribution of women to the regional economic systems, by working together on a text call the "Venice memorandum". - The day after was the first G4G European Conference, “Gender in economics: a way out from the crisis”. The conference aimed at creating an open debate not only to understand the impact of recession on women from a regional perspective, but also to look ahead to find out how regions can foster the human capital of women to create new opportunities and find solutions in these challenging times. - Elected representative demand us to give them specific studies "crossed" on the partners territories. Partners decide to put the focus on the themes of studies in Budapest for the next workshop in January 2010. - In introduction of the conference the elected representative present and signed in public the "Venice memorandum" text. - Finally, the last day a program of visit was organised by Veneto Region where good practices was presented to the partners.